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Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – Post-Practice – October 3, 2013
(On Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon)
“We actually took the crew up there and worked him out. We were very impressed with his workout and everything, his intelligence and his football skills. We put together the tape last night of some of his plays last year. All you have to do is watch the Houston game and watch to see what he’s capable of doing. He’s very explosive. We’re expecting the best out of him even though he’s not been on the practice field up until this week. It’s certain that he’s in real good shape, so we don’t necessarily know how they’re going to use him. We’re going to have to adjust.”
(On Jaguars WR Ace Sanders)
“Ace is a lot like (WR) Tavon (Austin) in that he’s very, very instinctive, got exceptional quickness, very, very good punt returner. But, from a receiver’s standpoint, he can get open. He can run by you. He can line up inside, outside, and he’s hard to cover man-to-man. He also was one of those that we worked out in person.”
(On how to get Austin going)
“Well what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to get the run after catch. We’ve got to get him in position to where he’s got a chance to make somebody miss and go. That’s just a matter of continuing to work on things and maybe experiment with some different things.”
(On if LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar is as sharp as he expected)
“Yeah, he picked up right where he left off. Keep in mind he played, he participated throughout camp and the preseason games. Any new wrinkles that have come since he’s been gone, he picked up right away.”
(On the state of the secondary right now)
“We actually have a chance to, I guess, put more experience in the secondary now with ‘Stew’ (S Darian Stewart) coming back and ‘Gio’ (S Matt Giordano) on different options here and there. We’ll be fine. Our numbers aren’t ideal, but we’ll get through it.”
(On Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert)
“One of the things that you really tend to realize after watching him is his escape ability and his mobility. He’s extremely mobile and he can extend plays. He gets out of the pocket, runs for first downs. He’s tall. He’s an accurate passer over the middle and he’s making good decisions. Like we said, his picks were tips and we know about those. He’s adjusting on the line of scrimmage, and I know he’s probably more excited to get Justin (Blackmon) back than anybody.”
(On if this game is a must-win)
“Next game on the schedule.”
(On if he expects improvements in the running game)
“I hope so. We need to improve if we’re going to have a chance to win it.”
Rams Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer – Post-Practice – October 3, 2013
(On what he remembers about Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon coming out of college)
“I remember…had a good workout in Stillwater. Obviously, the production in college was terrific, good football player. Obviously, had a good, productive year last year. I just remember big man that could drop his weight, and again, I think he’s got a tremendous amount of potential.”
(On what ‘dropping his weight’ means)
“Drop his weight meaning in and out of his cuts. He can get going full speed and sit down and change direction pretty quick. It’s hard for some big guys that are real tall or bigger guys to be able to do that. That was something that was pretty evident from the workout. Again, haven’t followed him much, but I know he had a good year last year and made some plays.”
(On if the Rams can emphasize the run)
“Yeah, I think so. I think, obviously, again with us there’s been breakdowns in multiple areas. There’s plays that I could probably call better. Certainly, I need to take some of the blame and then there’s breakdowns in different areas. Again, one of the things we’re talking about doing is we want to be balanced and again that’s what we’ve lacked the last two weeks. Some of it’s score. Some of it’s just inability to do things. The good thing with the long weekend was we were able to look at some things and touch on some things that maybe we can do a little bit better just in terms in some of our concepts and packages and then some of the fundamentals. The guys have done a great job this week of working on those things. It’s got to get better and I think it will.”
(On how to get better at blocking on the edges)
“Well again, I think we certainly have guys that we feel good about on the edges. (TE) Lance (Kendricks) obviously can be a dominant blocker on the edge. ‘Cookie’ (TE Jared Cook) obviously because of his length can do that. Again, what we’ve faced a little bit is some 3-4 defenses with guys that are a little bit more athletic in space and stuff like that. This week, we get to go against a four-down team. Again, it’s not just the edges that we’ve got to be better. The running game, it all works together. It starts with the quarterback-center exchange, the footwork from the quarterback to the back and then obviously all the different combinations you have in the running game. Again, we hear Coach (Fisher) loud and clear. We know that that’s something we’ve got to improve on and it will help the whole group.”
(On if he sees Seattle’s defense when he looks at Jacksonville)
“There’s a lot of Seattle. Yeah, and you turn on the film obviously it’s a lot of things we know from competing against (Jaguars Head Coach) Gus (Bradley) and those guys. Again, they do a ton of eight-man front. (S Johnathan) Cyprien, the young safety, is a good player. They put him down in the box a ton. They’re very multiple with their fronts, so it’s certainly got the Seattle touch. Then, the personnel’s a little different, but you can recognize the Gus Bradley defense right away.”
(On how he would assess QB Sam Bradford’s play through the first four games of the season)
“Started really, really well. Again, I think he’s played well at times. I think he can play better. I think he’ll tell you that, but again the best way to get him to play better is to have balance. There’s certainly been some drops. There’s certainly some bad breaks that Sam’s had, but he’s never wavered in his work ethic. Again, if we can find our balance, and again have the ability to run it when people know we’re going to run it and throw it when people know we’re going to throw it. That’s when I think we’ll hit that level of offense that we expect that we can be.”
(On how hard it is to run play action when the run game isn’t working)
“It’s very difficult if they’re not going to try to get the extra guy down in the front, if they’re not going to respect the run. The whole point of the run action, play action game is to try to suck linebackers up, make them try to stop the run. If they’re not worried about it, whether it’s based on score or whether it’s based on the ability to kind of move people up front it makes it very, very difficult. One of the things you love about the play action game is when they draw up into the line of scrimmage you either get the throw in behind it or they take off running because they know they’ve been fooled and that opens up big lanes for check downs. So again, it all works together and that’s what we’ve been working on really hard this week is just all the things we’ve been doing well – throwing the football in spread stuff, again mixing that in with run game and some of the play action stuff.”
(On WR Tavon Austin)
“Again, I think it comes down to execution and he’s had some great punt returns. He’s had some big plays for us. He scored two touchdowns, I think, and certainly he’ll get better with the drops. But, he’s a competitor. We’re all competitors and these guys have a good look on their faces this week. We’re not pleased with the way we’ve been playing. We know we can play better. We just want to go out there and again, take the execution to a different level. If we do that I think we’ll find a way to get a win.”
(On how important pass blocking was from the running backs against the 49ers)
“I think obviously that was an issue. I blame myself. I should have made an adjustment quicker than I did after (49ers LB NaVorro Bowman) got us twice. We knew what they were doing. I should have got that adjustment made, but that’s a hard matchup for any back. Again, he was doing a good job because he’s got multiple moves that he uses. Certainly, there’s things we can get better with, but again I’ve got to take some of that. To match those guys up on him all the time is a tough job.”
(On if the 49ers jumping short routes was a case of being too predictable)
“I don’t think so. I think they felt like they were getting pretty good pressure on Sam. So, I think they felt the ball was going to come out pretty quick. They were matching all the stuff underneath, which means there’s guys playing zone behind it and they’re manning everything up underneath. That kind of makes it hard, but again, I don’t think it was anything in terms of – there’s certain plays I’d like to have back that I called, but I don’t think it was anything other than the fact that we just didn’t execute very well. Play-in and play-out we need to be able to put plays together and get it going in a series. Again, I think we’ll do that this week.”
Rams Defensive Coordinator Tim Walton – Post-Practice – October 3, 2013
(On Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew)
“He’s a big time player. He’s had a lot of success in this league. We know he can run the ball. He’s a downhill power runner, has speed to get on the edge. He’s a threat when he gets his hands on the ball. We have to do a better job than what we’ve done the past few games of playing run defense. They’re going to feature him. They’re going to run him, so we have to get back to fundamental football to make sure we’re in our gaps and we tackle. We’ve got to make sure we tackle well, leverage the ball and get off blocks.”
(On Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon)
“They’re going to feature him. He’s a good player. He’s a very good football player. They’re going to move him around. They’re going to get him the ball. That makes them more balanced. They have (Jones-) Drew running the ball and then now with moving Blackmon around, we have to make sure we’re on our game. We have to take care of him in passing situations.”
(On Jaguars WR Cecil Shorts)
“Good route runner and has good hands. He’s a good guy coming out of his breaks. They move him around also, but he’s been playing the backside ‘X’ some, but he also will get in the slot and move him around. He does a nice job of catching the football and understands coverages, so he knows how to break his routes off and sit down and do things like that. When the quarterback has time, he gets him the ball.”
(On if there is a particular reason the run defense has struggled)
“We’ve got to go back to just fundamental football. Like I said, we’ve got to be able to be in our gap and do your job. Then, we have to tackle, leverage the ball, get off blocks and once you do that, that starts with us regardless of who we’re playing. That starts with us of getting that stuff – just being fundamentally sound across the board.”
(On stopping the run using fundamentals)
“Yeah, it is basic fundamentals that you’ve got to get back to, but now we have to do it. We have to apply it and we have to do it on Sundays. And we’ll get that going. We’re working on it. We’ll get that squared away. That’s the main thing because that’s what they’re going to do. They have a good back. They’re going to feature the back, so we have to get that problem solved.”
(On having LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar back)
“It helps a lot. He brings great energy. He understands the defense. He brings great toughness. We welcome him back. It’s going to be great to have him back out there flying around.”
(On safeties Matt Giordano and Darian Stewart)
“The same thing, those guys will do a fine job. It just comes back to fundamental football. They just have to come in, take things slow, do your job, look at the right thing and play assignment football. And that’ll get you through the game reps that you haven’t had so far and they’ll do that. That’s the stuff that we’ve been working on. Like I said, with all the players and all the stuff, it’s about us doing our job, being assignment sound and all that, and then it will take care of the plays that we make or don’t make on the field.”
(On if being in the right spot is half the battle)
“Yeah, it starts with us doing our job, doing our stuff. My job is I’ve got to put them in a better position, and then we’ve just got to go out and execute, like I said, fundamental football. If you get off blocks, if you leverage the football, if you’re in your right gap, if you tackle, all those things, you’ve got to understand their formations and their tendencies and what they’re trying to do and we’ll be fine. We’ll get back on track with that stuff.”
(On if he’s confident the defense will improve)
“Yeah, I’m most confident that they’ll get it together. We’ll make big strides going forward on accomplishing a lot of things that we want to do.”
(On if the defense did some ‘self-scouting’ to find the problem areas)
“Yeah, we did the same thing (as the offense). We had to look at the things that we need to fix. Some of the things that we were good at, some of the things that we need to improve on. And we’ll do that, evaluate it and try to put those pieces together to make sure we’re putting them in the right spot and everybody has the best chance to have success on Sundays.”
(On Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert)
“He moves around well, and when he has time, he makes some good throws. Like I said, the thing he’s getting back that’s going to be a key for him, he’s getting one of his top receivers back. So, when you’re down one of your best receivers, that stuff affects your play some. But, with him getting him back and then Jones-Drew starting to continue to get healthy, that takes a little bit off his shoulders.”
(On Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon)
“We actually took the crew up there and worked him out. We were very impressed with his workout and everything, his intelligence and his football skills. We put together the tape last night of some of his plays last year. All you have to do is watch the Houston game and watch to see what he’s capable of doing. He’s very explosive. We’re expecting the best out of him even though he’s not been on the practice field up until this week. It’s certain that he’s in real good shape, so we don’t necessarily know how they’re going to use him. We’re going to have to adjust.”
(On Jaguars WR Ace Sanders)
“Ace is a lot like (WR) Tavon (Austin) in that he’s very, very instinctive, got exceptional quickness, very, very good punt returner. But, from a receiver’s standpoint, he can get open. He can run by you. He can line up inside, outside, and he’s hard to cover man-to-man. He also was one of those that we worked out in person.”
(On how to get Austin going)
“Well what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to get the run after catch. We’ve got to get him in position to where he’s got a chance to make somebody miss and go. That’s just a matter of continuing to work on things and maybe experiment with some different things.”
(On if LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar is as sharp as he expected)
“Yeah, he picked up right where he left off. Keep in mind he played, he participated throughout camp and the preseason games. Any new wrinkles that have come since he’s been gone, he picked up right away.”
(On the state of the secondary right now)
“We actually have a chance to, I guess, put more experience in the secondary now with ‘Stew’ (S Darian Stewart) coming back and ‘Gio’ (S Matt Giordano) on different options here and there. We’ll be fine. Our numbers aren’t ideal, but we’ll get through it.”
(On Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert)
“One of the things that you really tend to realize after watching him is his escape ability and his mobility. He’s extremely mobile and he can extend plays. He gets out of the pocket, runs for first downs. He’s tall. He’s an accurate passer over the middle and he’s making good decisions. Like we said, his picks were tips and we know about those. He’s adjusting on the line of scrimmage, and I know he’s probably more excited to get Justin (Blackmon) back than anybody.”
(On if this game is a must-win)
“Next game on the schedule.”
(On if he expects improvements in the running game)
“I hope so. We need to improve if we’re going to have a chance to win it.”
Rams Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer – Post-Practice – October 3, 2013
(On what he remembers about Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon coming out of college)
“I remember…had a good workout in Stillwater. Obviously, the production in college was terrific, good football player. Obviously, had a good, productive year last year. I just remember big man that could drop his weight, and again, I think he’s got a tremendous amount of potential.”
(On what ‘dropping his weight’ means)
“Drop his weight meaning in and out of his cuts. He can get going full speed and sit down and change direction pretty quick. It’s hard for some big guys that are real tall or bigger guys to be able to do that. That was something that was pretty evident from the workout. Again, haven’t followed him much, but I know he had a good year last year and made some plays.”
(On if the Rams can emphasize the run)
“Yeah, I think so. I think, obviously, again with us there’s been breakdowns in multiple areas. There’s plays that I could probably call better. Certainly, I need to take some of the blame and then there’s breakdowns in different areas. Again, one of the things we’re talking about doing is we want to be balanced and again that’s what we’ve lacked the last two weeks. Some of it’s score. Some of it’s just inability to do things. The good thing with the long weekend was we were able to look at some things and touch on some things that maybe we can do a little bit better just in terms in some of our concepts and packages and then some of the fundamentals. The guys have done a great job this week of working on those things. It’s got to get better and I think it will.”
(On how to get better at blocking on the edges)
“Well again, I think we certainly have guys that we feel good about on the edges. (TE) Lance (Kendricks) obviously can be a dominant blocker on the edge. ‘Cookie’ (TE Jared Cook) obviously because of his length can do that. Again, what we’ve faced a little bit is some 3-4 defenses with guys that are a little bit more athletic in space and stuff like that. This week, we get to go against a four-down team. Again, it’s not just the edges that we’ve got to be better. The running game, it all works together. It starts with the quarterback-center exchange, the footwork from the quarterback to the back and then obviously all the different combinations you have in the running game. Again, we hear Coach (Fisher) loud and clear. We know that that’s something we’ve got to improve on and it will help the whole group.”
(On if he sees Seattle’s defense when he looks at Jacksonville)
“There’s a lot of Seattle. Yeah, and you turn on the film obviously it’s a lot of things we know from competing against (Jaguars Head Coach) Gus (Bradley) and those guys. Again, they do a ton of eight-man front. (S Johnathan) Cyprien, the young safety, is a good player. They put him down in the box a ton. They’re very multiple with their fronts, so it’s certainly got the Seattle touch. Then, the personnel’s a little different, but you can recognize the Gus Bradley defense right away.”
(On how he would assess QB Sam Bradford’s play through the first four games of the season)
“Started really, really well. Again, I think he’s played well at times. I think he can play better. I think he’ll tell you that, but again the best way to get him to play better is to have balance. There’s certainly been some drops. There’s certainly some bad breaks that Sam’s had, but he’s never wavered in his work ethic. Again, if we can find our balance, and again have the ability to run it when people know we’re going to run it and throw it when people know we’re going to throw it. That’s when I think we’ll hit that level of offense that we expect that we can be.”
(On how hard it is to run play action when the run game isn’t working)
“It’s very difficult if they’re not going to try to get the extra guy down in the front, if they’re not going to respect the run. The whole point of the run action, play action game is to try to suck linebackers up, make them try to stop the run. If they’re not worried about it, whether it’s based on score or whether it’s based on the ability to kind of move people up front it makes it very, very difficult. One of the things you love about the play action game is when they draw up into the line of scrimmage you either get the throw in behind it or they take off running because they know they’ve been fooled and that opens up big lanes for check downs. So again, it all works together and that’s what we’ve been working on really hard this week is just all the things we’ve been doing well – throwing the football in spread stuff, again mixing that in with run game and some of the play action stuff.”
(On WR Tavon Austin)
“Again, I think it comes down to execution and he’s had some great punt returns. He’s had some big plays for us. He scored two touchdowns, I think, and certainly he’ll get better with the drops. But, he’s a competitor. We’re all competitors and these guys have a good look on their faces this week. We’re not pleased with the way we’ve been playing. We know we can play better. We just want to go out there and again, take the execution to a different level. If we do that I think we’ll find a way to get a win.”
(On how important pass blocking was from the running backs against the 49ers)
“I think obviously that was an issue. I blame myself. I should have made an adjustment quicker than I did after (49ers LB NaVorro Bowman) got us twice. We knew what they were doing. I should have got that adjustment made, but that’s a hard matchup for any back. Again, he was doing a good job because he’s got multiple moves that he uses. Certainly, there’s things we can get better with, but again I’ve got to take some of that. To match those guys up on him all the time is a tough job.”
(On if the 49ers jumping short routes was a case of being too predictable)
“I don’t think so. I think they felt like they were getting pretty good pressure on Sam. So, I think they felt the ball was going to come out pretty quick. They were matching all the stuff underneath, which means there’s guys playing zone behind it and they’re manning everything up underneath. That kind of makes it hard, but again, I don’t think it was anything in terms of – there’s certain plays I’d like to have back that I called, but I don’t think it was anything other than the fact that we just didn’t execute very well. Play-in and play-out we need to be able to put plays together and get it going in a series. Again, I think we’ll do that this week.”
Rams Defensive Coordinator Tim Walton – Post-Practice – October 3, 2013
(On Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew)
“He’s a big time player. He’s had a lot of success in this league. We know he can run the ball. He’s a downhill power runner, has speed to get on the edge. He’s a threat when he gets his hands on the ball. We have to do a better job than what we’ve done the past few games of playing run defense. They’re going to feature him. They’re going to run him, so we have to get back to fundamental football to make sure we’re in our gaps and we tackle. We’ve got to make sure we tackle well, leverage the ball and get off blocks.”
(On Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon)
“They’re going to feature him. He’s a good player. He’s a very good football player. They’re going to move him around. They’re going to get him the ball. That makes them more balanced. They have (Jones-) Drew running the ball and then now with moving Blackmon around, we have to make sure we’re on our game. We have to take care of him in passing situations.”
(On Jaguars WR Cecil Shorts)
“Good route runner and has good hands. He’s a good guy coming out of his breaks. They move him around also, but he’s been playing the backside ‘X’ some, but he also will get in the slot and move him around. He does a nice job of catching the football and understands coverages, so he knows how to break his routes off and sit down and do things like that. When the quarterback has time, he gets him the ball.”
(On if there is a particular reason the run defense has struggled)
“We’ve got to go back to just fundamental football. Like I said, we’ve got to be able to be in our gap and do your job. Then, we have to tackle, leverage the ball, get off blocks and once you do that, that starts with us regardless of who we’re playing. That starts with us of getting that stuff – just being fundamentally sound across the board.”
(On stopping the run using fundamentals)
“Yeah, it is basic fundamentals that you’ve got to get back to, but now we have to do it. We have to apply it and we have to do it on Sundays. And we’ll get that going. We’re working on it. We’ll get that squared away. That’s the main thing because that’s what they’re going to do. They have a good back. They’re going to feature the back, so we have to get that problem solved.”
(On having LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar back)
“It helps a lot. He brings great energy. He understands the defense. He brings great toughness. We welcome him back. It’s going to be great to have him back out there flying around.”
(On safeties Matt Giordano and Darian Stewart)
“The same thing, those guys will do a fine job. It just comes back to fundamental football. They just have to come in, take things slow, do your job, look at the right thing and play assignment football. And that’ll get you through the game reps that you haven’t had so far and they’ll do that. That’s the stuff that we’ve been working on. Like I said, with all the players and all the stuff, it’s about us doing our job, being assignment sound and all that, and then it will take care of the plays that we make or don’t make on the field.”
(On if being in the right spot is half the battle)
“Yeah, it starts with us doing our job, doing our stuff. My job is I’ve got to put them in a better position, and then we’ve just got to go out and execute, like I said, fundamental football. If you get off blocks, if you leverage the football, if you’re in your right gap, if you tackle, all those things, you’ve got to understand their formations and their tendencies and what they’re trying to do and we’ll be fine. We’ll get back on track with that stuff.”
(On if he’s confident the defense will improve)
“Yeah, I’m most confident that they’ll get it together. We’ll make big strides going forward on accomplishing a lot of things that we want to do.”
(On if the defense did some ‘self-scouting’ to find the problem areas)
“Yeah, we did the same thing (as the offense). We had to look at the things that we need to fix. Some of the things that we were good at, some of the things that we need to improve on. And we’ll do that, evaluate it and try to put those pieces together to make sure we’re putting them in the right spot and everybody has the best chance to have success on Sundays.”
(On Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert)
“He moves around well, and when he has time, he makes some good throws. Like I said, the thing he’s getting back that’s going to be a key for him, he’s getting one of his top receivers back. So, when you’re down one of your best receivers, that stuff affects your play some. But, with him getting him back and then Jones-Drew starting to continue to get healthy, that takes a little bit off his shoulders.”
